Bolster-stake holder.



U. FAUST.

BOLSTER STAKE HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, 1913.

11 077 692. Patented Nov. 4, 1913.

If I i 0 A5 T- A5 ti/fia it COLUMBIA PLANOORAFH cm. WASHINGTON. D. cv

CASPER FAUST, OF OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN.

BOLSTER-STAKE HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 4,1913.

Application filed April 11, 1913. Serial No. 760,456.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CASPER FAUs'r, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Oshkosh, in the county of Winnebago and State of Wisconsin,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bolster- StakeHolders; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description thereof.

My invention refers to releasable holders for bolster stakes, its objectbeing toprovide a simple, economical and efiective holder of this type,which holder, when locked, cannot be released except by a manualoperation, the said holder being so constructed and arranged as toeliminate springs or other delicate mechanism which might beinadvertently disordered by the severe uses to which appliances of theabove general type are put.

Another objectof myinvention is to provide means in connection with thestakes, whereby when they are released from their holders they willremain. suspended from the carrier, this feature being particularlydesirable in instances where the load of the carrier is discharged upontrestles or into side pits.

The invention is particularly adapted for use in connection with flatcars for retaining and releasing loads of logs or analogous freight, itbeing understood that the apparatus is applicable to any type offreightcarrying vehicle, the general idea being to provide means forreleasing the stakes upon that side of the carrier from which the loadis to be discharged, whereby the danger to the operator of receivinginjury from the sliding load is eliminated.

' With the above objects in view the invention onsists in certainpeculiarities of construction and combination of parts as hereinafterset forth with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequentlyclaimed.

In the drawings Figure 1 represents a cross-sectional view of the bodyportion of a carrier equipped with a set of bolsterstake holdersembodying the features of my invention, and Fig. 2, a'plan View of thesame with the stakes in section as indicated by line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring by characters to the drawings, 1 represents the floor of afreight-car or other carrier having secured thereto a sill 2, it beingunderstood that two or more of such sills equipped with stakes andholders in accordance with my invention are applied to the car orcarrier throughout its length and upon which sills the logs constitutingthe load are piled. Secured to the same side of the sill adjacent to itsends are capplates 3, 3, the same being held in position by bolts 4, 4,which pass through the sills and also secure a second set ofcap-plateso, 5, which cap-plates terminate just back of the sill endswith knuckle-members for the reception of pintle-bolts 6 that havehinged thereto circular jaw-clips 8 and 8, the said j aw-clips beingextended beyond the ends of the sill and are curved inwardly to formsemi-pockets These hinged jaw-clips 8 are arranged to articulate withcorresponding fixed jaw-clips 9 which latter project from theclip-plates 3 and are also curved inwardly, being so positioned thatwhen the hinged j aw-clips 8 are closed each pair forms a stake-pocketin conjunction with the end of the sill to which they are attached.Fitted into each pocket is a stake 10 that is provided with a shoulderedshank, which shoulder is fitted with a rub-plate 11 that is adapted torest upon the upper face of the sill in order to relieve the load strainfrom the stake-holding pockets, the said stakes are connectedintermediate of their ends by a chain or cable constituting a runner 12,the

ends of which runner are looped over hooks 13 that extend from the innerfaces of the stakes, their ends being upwardly inclined as shown. Bythis arrangement after the load has reached approximately the level ofthe hooks the runner is inserted in position and the remainder of theload is piled over said chain or runner. Thus the weight of that portionof the load upon the chain stretch 12 will have the effect ofcontracting the stakes at their upper ends. The load is furthersustained and held in place by a binding chain or cable 14 whichconstitutes a runner and encircles the top layer of logs transversely.This runner is provided with end loops which engage hooks 15 thatproject from the outer face of the stakes adjacent to their head ends,the said hooks being provided with open ends that extend clownwardly.Each cap-plate 8 has projecting therefrom a pair of apertured cleats 16,17 and extending from the free ends of the hinged aw clips 8 are lugs 18having hooked ends for the reception of lock and release chains 19, 20.The end links of these chains, after being inserted over the hooked noseof the jaw-clip lugs are secured by cotter-pins 20, which pass throughthe apertures that are formed in said lugs, by which construction thechain-fastening is insured the cleat 17v of the opposite cap-plate andhence the chain so stretched. is locked at two points, being held in itslocked position by pins 21, 21, which are fitted through apertures insaid cleats. As shown, the pair of locking cleats 16 and 17which carrythe chain 19 have sides correspondingly sloped in the direction of stripof the chain therefrom. Hence after the pins 21 and 21 have been removeda slight whip of the'chain will cause its links to strip from the pairof cleats and thus the jaw-clip will be free to swing open. The oppositestake-holder, which is shown in Fig. 2 in its open position, is lockedand released in a similar manner from that side of the carrier oppositeits position. The locking chains or runners in this instance are showncrossed upon the same side of the sill, but it is understood that insome instances the chains may be connected to the cleats in parallelrelations, but if crossed, as shown, should it be desired to release thechain of that stake which is between: the face of the sill and the otherchain the position of the chains can be reversed, that is, before theinner chain is released the outer chain can be shifted from one of itslocking cleats to effect said release. It will also be observed that Ihave provided the cap-plates with inwardly projecting rub-flanges uponthe face of the sill to prevent wear of said sill and in practice thehinge jaw members are set upon slightly lower planes than the fixed jawmembers, by which arrangement when the logs are discharged the strainwill come entirely upon said fixed jaw-clips.

It has also been found in practice that when the stakes are released andalso when the latter are seated within their holders that their shoulderportions are liable to wear by abrasion or through other causes andhence in order to overcome this feature the shouldered metallicrub-plates 11 are utilized. Hence the wear at this point is eliminatedand owing to the metallic contact the stakes are capable of sliding morereadily from their holders in a releasing operation. Attention is alsocalled to the fact that owing to the arrangement whereby the chainrunners are locked at both ends of the sill that there is no liabilityof the holders being released except through a positive manualoperation, in which case the cotter-pin acent to that holder which is tobe released is first removed and thereafter the operatorpasses to theopposite side .of the carrier and releases the last locking means in asafe position relative to the discharge of the load. It should also beunderstood that while I have shown a peculiar attaching lug for thejaw-clips and end links of the chains that, in some 1nstance, a r vet orany other means may be employed for effecting the desired result.

From the foregoing description it is alsomanifest that when thestake-holders are released for discharging the load that said stakeswill be thrown out from their bottom ends by the weight of the load andas the load drags therefrom under while the chains 512 will be releasedfrom their hooks 13, the

said stakes will be held in suspension due to the chain connections 14,which chain connections will not free the head ends of the stakes, owingto the fact that the hooks 15 which retain the chains have their nosesextending 111. a downwardly direction.

is also apparent that while I have shown the entire stretch of thechains of a single gage that the releasing stretch between the lockingcleats may be of much smaller gage than the loop portion which inpractice will take the strain of the load.

Attention is also called to the fact that owing to the peculiararrangement of retaining chains let that when the-load of logs isreleased the stakes will ride over said logs as they flow from thecarrier and thus-be held from entanglement within the logs, while at thesame time the stakes are held against dropping to a position between thecar, roadway or skidway, whereby. they would cause a jam of the logs andprevent free discharge thereof upon the said roadway or skidway, and,furthermore, should the stakes assume such position the load of logscrowding thereon would have a tendency to break or otherwise seriouslydamage the stages. These features have all been demonstrated in practicein the operation of releasablefstake holders and are therefore anessential element of my invention.

It will'be readily understood that this dividable stake holder will forma pocket which,in practice, has the function of hold ing a stake asrigidly as a solid pocket.

I claim:

1. A bolster-stake holder comprising a sill, a pair of cap-platessecured to the same side of the sill at its opposite ends, an inwardlycurved fixed jaw-clip extending from each. cap-plate beyond the sillend, a locking cleat extending from each plate, a

second pair of cap-plates secured to the sill side opposite the firstmentioned cap-plates, a curved j aw-clip in hinged connection with eachof the last mentioned cap-plates, the hinged jaw-clips being arranged toarticulate with the aforesaid fixed jaw-clips to form stake-receivingpockets, and a flexible lock-and-release runner secured to each hingedaw-clip, each runner being in interlocking engagement with a cleat.

2. A bolster-stake holder comprising a sill, a cap-plate secured to oneside of the sill at each end thereof, the cap-plates being provided withinwardly curved rigid jawclips, pairs of locking cleats extending fromeach of the aforesaid cap-plates, other capplates secured to theopposite side of the sill adjacent to its ends, jaw-clips in hingeconnection with the last mentioned cap-plates adapted to articulate withthe fixed jawclips to form stake-pockets, a chain secured to each hingedjaw-clip and having their free ends extending transversely of the sillin opposite directions, each chain being provided with links adapted toengage one cleat of each pair of the cap-plates.

3. A bolster-stake holder comprising a sill, a cap-plate secured to oneside of the sill at each end thereof, the cap-plates being provided withinwardly curved rigid jawclips, pairs of locking cleats extending fromeach of the aforesaid cap-plates, other capplates secured to theopposite side of the sill adjacent to its ends, jaw-clips in hingeconnection with the last mentioned cap-plates adapted to articulate withthe fixed jawclips to form stake-pockets, a chain secured to each hingedjaw-clip and having their free ends extending transversely of the sillin opposite directions, each chain being provided with links adapted toengage one cleat of each pair of the cap-plates, and means for lockingthe chains in connection with the cleats.

4. In a pair of bolster stakes having releasable stake-holding pockets;the combination ofa chain or cable detachably secured to the inner facesof the stakes intermediate of their ends, downwardly inclined hookssecured to the outer faces of the stakes adjacent to the ends of thesame, and a chain in engagement with the stakes.

5. In a pair of bolster stakes having releasable stake-holding pockets;the combination of downwardly inclined hooks secured to the outer facesof the stakes adjacent to the ends of the same, and a chain or cableengageable with the hooks, whereby either one of the stakes, whenreleased from its holder, is held in suspension.

6. A bolster-stake holder comprising a sill, fixed jaw-members extendingfrom the opposite ends of the sill, other jaw-membersin hinge connectionwith the sill and extending from its ends adapted to articulate with thefixed jaw members, locking cleats extending from the sills upon thatside thereof opposite the hinged jaw members, and locking chains carriedby said hinged jaw members engageable with the locking cleats. g

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand atMilwaukee in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin in thepresence of two witnesses.

N. E. OLIPHANT, M. E. DOWNEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissionerof Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

